CHICAGO, Dec 2 (Reuters) – The boom times for U.S.
agriculture in 2011 have focused on soaring land and crop
prices, bumper harvests and biofuels, but a recent deal has
spotlighted a quiet industry that’s booming: grain storage.

Agco (AGCO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world’s third-largest farm equipment
manufacturer, this week finalized its purchase of grain storage
manufacturer GSI Holdings for $928 million.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Grain farmers in the Midwest may want to pinch themselves.

In recent years they have been buoyed by a dream scenario. Record high prices. Record high profits. Record high farmland values. Near record production. Farm debts paid off.

KANSAS CITY/CHICAGO (Reuters) – U.S. farmland prices in the third quarter saw their biggest surge in over three decades in an accelerating agricultural boom that has so far defied fears of a bubble about to burst.

Prices hit record highs in the U.S. Plains, where wheat and cattle dominate production, and jumped 25 percent in the Midwest Corn Belt where bumper grain crops and recovering livestock markets put more money in farmers’ wallets and enticed investors to bid up for the fertile ground, according to two Federal Reserve bank surveys issued on Tuesday.

CHICAGO, Nov 11 (Reuters) – A new study of pricing and
storage problems with Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures
concludes that “fixes” aren’t working and the problems may be a
threat to the long-term health of CBOT grain markets.

“If non-convergence were to persist, there would be
potential for a competing set of futures contracts that
enforces convergence to replace the current CBOT and KCBOT
(Kansas City Board of Trade) contracts,” the study says.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Agricultural bankers and advisers say the bankruptcy of giant futures brokerage MF Global has shaken the farm world’s opinion of futures trading and action must be taken to restore confidence in the system.

Lenders, farmers and farm advisers at the annual meeting of the North American Agricultural Bankers Association here said they were not shocked that a firm like MF Global could run aground trading its own money in volatile world markets.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Crop scientists in the United States, the world’s largest food exporter, are pondering an odd question: could the danger of global warming really be the heat?

For years, as scientists have assembled data on climate change and pointed with concern at melting glaciers and other visible changes in the life-giving water cycle, the impact on seasonal rains and irrigation has worried crop watchers most.

BIG ROCK, Illinois (Reuters) – Steve Ruh, a 42-year-old farmer harvesting some of his 3,000 acres of corn and soybeans 50 miles west of Chicago, says he could not be more pleased with how this year’s harvest is going.

Ruh, sitting inside the high-tech cab of his $250,000 Case International combine, has one eye on the yield monitor and another on the eight rows of corn he is harvesting as he steams through another mile-long stretch of seven-foot high corn stalks one chilly morning this week.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) – Sub-Saharan Africa faces daunting problems staving off famine in coming decades but food and development experts also say one solution to the problem is obvious: empower women.

“They are the major producers of food crops in Africa. If we want to make a real headway on food production, we should be able to invest in women, improve their skills and access to the inputs they require,” said Namanga Ngongi, president, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), a top seed producer.

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct 13 (Reuters) – U.S. chemicals giant
DuPont (DD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) sees big growth opportunities ahead in its
agricultural sector as the world’s population expands 30
percent and food needs double by 2050.

“As we take a look at the value chains and what is going on
around the world with population growth, we see agriculture as
being a tremendous opportunity,” DuPont Chief Executive Officer
Ellen Kullman told reporters here on Thursday during the World
Food Prize meetings.

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct 12 (Reuters) – Global agricultural
productivity is rising but more effort is needed to meet the
world’s long-term food needs, a group of agribusiness leaders
advised on Wednesday.

“While the new evidence of faster productivity growth for
this year is welcome, it does not alleviate the concern or
urgency about addressing the pace of agricultural development
in parts of the world where much of the population increase
will take place, especially Sub-Saharan Africa,” the group,
called the Global Harvest Initiative (GHI), said.